Oceans interact with humans in both positive and negative ways and this interaction has become the foundation for an emerging, cutting-edge metadiscipline called Oceans and Human Health. The 2012 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and accompanying graduate student Seminar (GRS) on Oceans and Human Health (OHH) will address several of the many disciplines comprising OHH that include oceanography, waterborne and seafood-borne diseases, harmful algal blooms, epidemiology, comparative animal physiology, natural products and synthetic organic chemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, social sciences, engineering, natural disasters, climate change and other ocean-related areas. Specific aims for the 2012 conference and seminar will include sessions on seafood (health risks and benefits), aquaculture, natural disasters, climate change, metagenomics, microbiomes, transcriptomics, forecasting and remote sensing, changes in fecal indicator detection and emerging chemicals of concern as they relate to human health. It will also address how to communicate ocean-borne health risks and benefits to the public. Finally, it will have a short session on the Deepwater Horizon to update the conferees on what research involving fate of the oil and human health effects has transpired since the April 2010 oil blowout in Macondo Canyon and the future of OHH in the United States and Europe will be discussed. As is the case with all GRC events, this conference and seminar will assemble experts in the several session areas who will present current information to junior scientists and graduate students in a very relaxed atmosphere. In addition to the intellectual merit of formal presentations and poster presentations by leading experts, the GRC on OHH will provide broader impact opportunities to graduate students and postdocs for one-on-one discussions about OHH topics. The Conference will also endeavor to attract underrepresented conferees. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Through formal presentations, poster sessions and the informal interactions among scientists and students, the third Gordon Research Conference and Gordon Research Seminar on Oceans and Human Health will assemble the highest caliber of academic, government, industrial scientists and students to share recent national and international discoveries in the several fields of OHH and discuss the newest relevant research in algal and microbial biology, physical and biological oceanography, epidemiology and public health, climate change, genomics and proteomics, toxicology, and economics. As is the case with all GRCs, this conference will foster the open exchange of information and ideas and the opportunity for collaboration among scientists at the cutting edge of OHH research by providing opportunities for participants to interact in a relaxed and friendly environment. And finally, it wll engage female, minority, and junior faculty and students (postdoctoral and graduate) in the field of OHH research through participation at formal sessions, poster presentations and informal interactions, including the associated GRS on OHH specifically targeted at mentoring students in this emerging discipline.